Police: Woman tried to hire two hit men to kill husband

Las Vegas police investigate road rage shooting death

A Las Vegas woman was arrested Wednesday after trying to hire two men at separate times to kill her husband, one of them a Las Vegas police officer, according to police.

After meeting on a internet dating site, Leslie M. LaChance, who has also gone by the names Leslie Garcia and Leslie Zdehovan, 48, had a rendezvous in Las Vegas with her British paramour after some time communicating through email and Skype video chat.

During one of their Skype dates, LaChance’s online interest witnessed her husband, a man he thought was her live-in ex-husband, beat her, according to the arrest report for LaChance. He called Las Vegas police, and on Aug. 7, LaChance’s husband was arrested for battery domestic violence.

According to the incident report filed by police after the battery, LaChance’s husband came into the room while she was Skyping on the phone with her internet friend after drinking shots all night.

They had been married for 10 years, with two divorces ending in remarriages in that time period.

Her husband became angry she was talking to another man, and began yelling obscenities at her before breaking her phone, according to the domestic violence report.

LaChance told police her husband threatened to kill her, pushed her and slapped her face, the report stated.

Her friend on the phone called police from a London phone number, and they responded. LaChance did not have any visible marks, but confirmed the call to dispatch was correct.

Her husband was asleep on the couch when police arrived, and admitted to drinking heavily, fighting with his wife and breaking her phone, according to the report, but denied any physical violence.

The boyfriend decided to come to Las Vegas on August 16, after witnessing the domestic violence, and meet with her in person.

He got a hotel room at the Riviera, and Lachance had a separate room in the same hotel.

After a couple of days, they moved to the Town and Country weekly hotel, near Flamingo Road and Boulder Highway, because LaChance was using her husband’s credit cards and she feared he would track her down, the report said.

Another few days went by without incident, and on Aug. 21, after heading out on her own for several hours, LaChance came back and told her boyfriend she met with another friend who introduced her to an unknown man. She discussed having her husband killed for a fee with the man her friend introduced her to, the arrest report stated.

The next morning, the British guest moved to another hotel and the following day, contacted police in an email with his information, referencing “murder for hire.”

The boyfriend told police LaChance emailed him to get her stuff from their locked Town and Country hotel room. He told her they could meet up the following day, according to the report.

He and a police officer met LaChance at a Big Lots parking lot. She asked to go back to the hotel, and her guest refused, saying he told the hotel to relinquish her belongings. LaChance then left.

A half hour later, her internet friend called police and told them LaChance called crying and possibly suicidal. He agreed to meet her at Sam’s Town Casino.

LaChance met with the boyfriend and the plainclothes detective at the sportsbook bar, but she refused to sit with them in a booth, choosing a seat at the bar instead. The detective joined her at the bar, and began to discuss her plans to kill her husband.

She admitted to the detective she had paid $6,000 to a man known as “Willy” as the first half of the fee. The other half was to be paid after the job was done and there was proof of his death, according to the report.

She went on to tell the detective she had a meeting with “Willy” later that night to give him the key to her house, with a gun inside, and she planned to leave for California the next day and then go to Belize to avoid extradition, the report said.

The detective convinced LaChance it was better to use a professional and she should “cancel ‘Willy’” and have him do the job, according to the report.

LaChance agreed, and after discussing a fee and payment plan, confirmed she wanted the detective to kill her husband. She verbally confirmed once, and when asked a second time, she stated she wouldn’t repeat herself but she would blink once for no and twice for yes.

She began blinking several times and said to the detective, “Is that enough blinks for you?” according to the report.

Police arrested her and attempted to warn her husband someone was hired to kill him.

A search warrant located $4,600 in cash in LaChance’s purse and bank receipts for $4,000 and $1,000. A crime report filed by her husband stated she had taken $12,000 from his savings account also stated LaChance had forged checks over the prior weeks for $5,500, $1,100 and $500, according to her arrest report.

Court documents show LaChance was found guilty for attempt to obtain and possess credit cards without the cardholder’s consent in 1994. She was sentenced to counseling, community service and probation.

Police contacted “Willy” the night of Aug. 28 and said LaChance had passed out and they were supposed to give him the key. The male on the phone gave conflicting statements about his conversations with LaChance and she should call him when she was awake.

It is unknown if police have located “Willy.”

LaChance faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder.

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